Moving to a 7" Tab - Need some guidance

[biotechie]

Hi Folks,

So I was looking to get a Galaxy Tab and found a Sprint one for ~$260 new. Im thinking this is a good deal. However, I had a couple questions that I could use your help with?

1. Does Sprint have a no contract data plan? It doesn?t show up on their site. I would like that for times I am travelling and want data.
2. Can a Sprint Tab be rooted/flashed to work on Verizon? If so, would I be able to get a no contact plan with Vz?
3. Are there a good number of Custom ROMs available for the Sprint Tabs? I thought most of the devs @ XDA develop only for the GSM ones. Do the Sprint Tabs not get any love?
4. Any other advantages/disadvantages for Sprint vs Vz? GSM vs CDMA? I know about the GSM ones have more internal memory and the Vz one having more RAM. Anything else?

Thanks,
B.

 

[Weirdo0815]

I have owned a Sprint Tab since January and loved it ever since...

My answers to your questions:

1. I asked a few of the employees at my two local sprint stores (one is a repair place) when I got my tab and no one, including the managers, could confirm or deny the existence of a no-contract data plan. I later talked to a Sprint rep on the phone that told me that there is no such thing for Sprint but (at the time) there was internal talk about one possibly coming out. I ended up getting it on-contract but that was mainly because my Work subsidized it for me since it was partly being purchased for me to write company programs for.
2. I have never heard of anyone moving a Sprint Tab to Verizon or vice versa. I have my Tab on contract for 2GB a month with my Sprint phones but I have looked for my cousin with no success. I would think it is possible but because both Sprint and Verizon have their own Tabs, I don't think anyone has really bothered.
3. The only custom ROM for the CDMA versions that is of mentioning is the Honeycomb port that is in really early development stages. The awesome thing is the main developer for it is centering it on the CDMA Tabs and will then "port" it over to the GSM ones. Other than that, yea, it seems like the GSM tabs get the ROM love'n. I personally am ok with that since I have no need for anything different than stock Froyo.
4. I actually wasn't aware that the Verizon one has more RAM. I even played with a Verizon side-by-side with my Sprint one a few weeks ago and didn't notice any performance differences. I don't think the GSM ones have any RAM differences either. I personally prefer removable storage; and 1GB of internal app storage is plenty. I have like 30+ programs installed on my Tab and still have plenty of app storage space available.

My one word of warning is the WiFi-Only Tab (if you're looking at it) has a whole set of different internals. The CPU, Wifi Card and RAM are all different. I think the RAM is the same amount but its slower or at least seems to be. Also, the battery life on the Wifi only one seems to be a fair bit worse than my Sprint one which is odd to me but whatever. We sell the Wifi only ones at my work and their great but don't really compare well to my Sprint Tab.

My only suggestions about a Tab are:
- I would be to change the Launcher. I don't like the stock Samsung one... its cumbersome and not very customizable. I personally use LauncherPro on my Tab and my Epic. Its customizable on the number of rows and columns on the home screens and the app drawer. And you can customize the apps that are on the launch bar (the thing at the bottom where the app drawer button is).
- Root your tab. You will then be able to do backups and much more, including...
- Once rooted, find yourself the One-Click-Lag-Fix app and run it. I wasn't able to find it in the Market but it can be found over on XDA-Developers.com. It will re-format the app storage area to a much faster partition type, meaning your programs will load much faster.

Have Fun and Good Tabbing